Bitcoin Forum

I am a new Bitcoin holder because I recently decided to terminate a bank standing order that transfers some of my extra earnings to a special account. I wanted to save this money for future use. But I recently decided to stop these savings and use the money to buy Bitcoin no matter how small every month. And the money is kept in a decentralized wallet.

But I have one problem which is I keep checking the price of Bitcoin every time I have the slightest opportunity. I just can't take my eyes off my wallet. I can check my wallet up to ten times and above in a day. My mind is telling me that it is not normal since I want to be a long-time investor. I also observe that a drop in price makes me scared, while a rise gives me the opposite feeling.

I want to know if there is an average number of times a new investor should check his wallet and how can I change my behavior if it is abnormal. Thank you in advance for your helpful responses.

I've been in BTC since 2014 and can relate entirely. At first, I checked the price constantly, to the point where it was un-healthy.

Over time, I realized it's not what matters in real life at any given moment. Take time to smell the flowers as they say, enjoy life, and don't obsess.

Anyhow, .... This will pass - you will tire of checking it and it hardly moves... :D

Good luck, and don't feel alone haha... You will understand what I mean eventually about what I said about minutes of our lives - they are precious, enjoy them and don't waste too much checking price. Not worth it! :D

Cheers!

This is a toxic habit, I think the reason why you're regularly checking your wallet and Bitcoin price is because you're not invest what you can afford to lose. If you invest with most of your money or you're need in hurry, you're better off to sell your coins until you have some cash to buy a foods, pay bills, and for emergency funds. You don't need to spend a lot money if you can't accept the risk, just invest in small amount until you get a better job that will make you earn more money.

Store private keys safely > uninstall wallet > clean and set cookies to "don't save" on a browser where you always visit a bitcoin tracker that allows converting prices (meant to forget your address in search history).
I don't know how you buy bitcoins, if it's possible to store addresses by labeling your wallet address, then take advantage of that to reduce saving address history on the clipboard.

Occasionally you may look at the monthly blockchain tracker just to make sure your bitcoin transaction is confirmed (not to see the value).

I was like that as well in the past when I first went big on crypto. The trick is to do something productive and keep yourself busy so you stop unnecessarily checking your wallet's value. You earn more money or gain more knowledge, and at the same time you get to do that unproductive habit a lot less. Win-win.

This 100% ^^^^^^^^^^^^

It's a profitable and good decision that you have made, to start DCA-ing to get more bitcoins, in a couple of months if you remain consistent, you will be able to achieve a lot.

It is normal for a new bitcoin hodler to keep checking their bitcoins in their wallets, it is part of the excitement buying bitcoins for the first time and seeing it in your wallet.  What will not be normal however is if after you have become conversant with the bitcoin environment for a long time, you are still addicted to constantly checking your wallet to see your balance.

Always wanting to check your balance is the fastest way to keep an unsettled mind towards your investment in cryptocurrency, you should try to learn to slowly limit checking your balance everytime so it doesn't begin to affect the decision you have made to hodl bitcoin for a long time.

OP, the more you judge yourself for this habit, the more and more often you will check your balance. Let it go; want to watch? Watch; honestly, you're not the only one doing this. Especially during the growth of bitcoin, a lot of users regularly check the balance of their wallets.
On the other hand, by spending that time learning about bitcoins, once you become interested, you will gradually come to understand that when you hold bitcoins in the long run, worrying about the state of your wallet becomes unnecessary.

The Anxiety is real mate, although you might have read few things about bitcoin or heard some of its good things from people, a new investor like you will still be nervous and check everytime to clear the doubt of whether you made the right choice to invest in it. Its normal considering we are even in a bearish period. Do not anticipate any bad things because with bitcoin yours funds won't lose value (if truly you invested them in bitcoin). But if feel too scared about losing then my advice is take money off it and invest that which is worth losing for you to clear off your doubts. Then go do more research about bitcoin and I am sure you will come back comfortably.
But overall it isn't a bad thing to check everyday but the intention of seeing it rise or drop on every check drives off one's serenity

As a new investor I think it's normal, with time you are going to get use to it, I was once in your condition when I started investing in bitcoin, immediately I invested in bitcoin I was always checking my wallet, but when bitcoin started dumping and I noticed my money is down, then I stopped checking it frequently because I was always feeling bad whenever I see the amount left. You checking your wallet frequently is normal as a newbie, I know you won't want your money to dump so you will be monitoring it always. Just always have it in mind that you are investing for long term so even if price increases you are not going to sell or just always get yourself busy am sure you will reduce the way you check your wallet.

Every newbies have done the same thing, do not worry, as time goes by you will learn to leave your wallet alone, it's not a healthy lifestyle and since you plan to hold for a long term there is no reason to keep checking your wallet.

Altcoins and Bitcoin will keep losing value because we are in a bear market and a bear market is the most volatile stage for crypto currency, it is just what it is so keep holding and forget your wallet for now until the next Bitcoin halving is almost here.

That feeling is normal, bruv because as a new investor you do everything  humanly possible to get a bigger profit
 its not your fault that you check it every 5secs per day, the things is you don't want to lose since the price is not stagnant. It happened to me at first when I was supposed to get a higher profit but I withheld from doing so. Truthfully, constantly monitoring your wallet would get you scared to the point of removing it. Since the price of BTC is volatile, it's best to take it as it comes.
  It's best to also invest in an amount that you can easily do without and that way it would save you a lot of stress.
 

Actually theres none. For someone whose into crypto its quite normal that he/she frequently checking his portfolio once in a while like minutes apart. But thats due to the habit weve acquired in the long run and being used to it. Thats not bad at all, but having an urge not to check on it is a very hard challenge cause we always wanted to know what are the status of our money if its falling or gaining.

As long as this doesn't turn into a long term habit where you always check the price, there is no problem with it. It is normal that during the first couple of weeks of adopting bitcoin for you to be worried about the price specially since the market is a bit weird right now.
But if it turned out to be a long term thing, there could be a problem with the amount you'd invested in bitcoin. If you invest what you can afford to lose your concern will also be a lot less.

Since you are still new in crypto, your behavior is perfectly normal and all of us did the same at the beginning.

Speaking from my own experience, turning point for me 2018 when I decided to deinstall all price tracking apps from my mobile phone and remove similar websites from my bookmarks as I was getting obsessed with it.  Thing is, I realized that there was no point in checking prices on the daily basis because I was not a trader but hodler, so why waste my time on that since i won't do anything about it, no matter price going up or down. Best decision ever.

I do not think your habitual behavior of regularly checking your wallet to know the current price of bitcoin is abnormal. On the contrary, lots of people can’t get their eyes of their wallets and I think a lot of people do check their wallets periodically for want to know the current price of their investments.

As a new bitcoin holder, I think it’s understandable that you would check your wallet numerous times daily. You stated that you intend on holding bitcoin for the long run and that’s why you’re accumulating bitcoin monthly and storing in your decentralized wallet. As a new bitcoin holder, It’s great to see you’re saving your funds off exchanges.

As an intending long term holder, you should learn to put aside the habit of regularly checking your wallet. As you intend holding bitcoin for the long run, the present price of bitcoin shouldn’t be an immediate concern to you. You would only kill yourself with worry and perhaps doubts by regularly checking your wallet.
Don’t beat yourself about it and take it slow and easy. You’ll be fine.

For beginners, I would say that this is normal,  I mean when I was in the early stage of my journey, I was check the balance of my wallet if I have the chance to. But later on, as I gain more experience and have seen my first bitcoin cycle (bearish/bullish), I was not that conscious anymore. Probably 2-3x a day is good enough to check the price and what your wallet looks like.

Don't you worry, as you mature in this market, your concern is how to increased your bitcoin or any other altcoin, not what the price of the market is or what is the equivalent of the crypto that you have relative to fiat.

Funny I just had to go check my portfolio after reading you words. This I haven't done in some months now after the Luna first crash which I went to verify if I invested in that project so I can get rid of it before further casualties. What you're experience isn't odds as many investors suffer same fate. Infact many of us had similar experience when we first started investing in the space, I think with time you'll know to handle it but you can try to program yourself not to get obsessed with price volatility by remembering, in future things will always be green and program your mindset for long term price goals (not short term).

You can try deleting any of the apps that has to do with price update on the market and your wallets as well. Keep your private key and other vital information needed to access your wallet in safe location before deleting the apps and stay of crypto news. We're in a bear market so the price will always be negative until we go pass this stage, keep that in mind and look for other activities to keep you occupied while we wait for this season to end.

Over time, this will pass. Make it harder to access your wallet:  hide the passwords, remove the wallet app. Focus on other tasks, make time for your hobbies or other activities that are interesting and exciting for you. You are now heavily obsessed with your investments and wallet, what are you spending all your thoughts on. Focus your thoughts on other issues and your problem will fade into the background.

To see price of Bitcoin in your wallet and value of your bitcoin you are holding in that wallet, you must log in. If you have a password, you must encrypt it by typing its password. You will expose your wallet private key to Internet. It's not safe.

You can bookmark sites like Coinmarketcap, Coingecko, Messari to get price of Bitcoin. You don't have to login your wallet when you need to check price of Bitcoin.
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/
https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin
https://messari.io/asset/bitcoin

Another reason you should not log in your wallet and check price too much.

I think almost everyone felt the same of what you were doing it's just a common toxic habit to all new in the market but it will pass down since you will get tired of looking your wallet every damn time but the market didn't change at all considering it's a bear market. 8)

Best thing you can do is to find something that would take away your addiction to the price changes, like a hobby that you would like to pursue or try different things. Investing should not be stressful since you are just basically holding for a long time not trading/scalping. If you don't have plans to sell yet then leave the market alone and continue what you were doing before you entered the market.

I'm having a hard time understanding why you keep viewing your wallet. Is it because you constantly check the value of your Bitcoin? If so, it's an unpleasant habit you've developed as a new investor due to being anxious and stressed about the amount of money you've invested. Try not to worry too much about it; I believe that we all went through that phase as newbies, and it'll eventually die down on its own. I also used to be stuck observing Bitcoin's price when I was trading, but I've now stopped and focused on holding and rarely ever look at the price anymore. As others have already suggested, try making your wallet less accessible by either deleting it or hiding it in a bunch of random folders. You'll figure out what works best for you.

You can’t stop this behavior or habits as long as you are still excited on your new found investment. This is new to you so it’s normal that you will check your investment status time and time. There’s no such thing as average times of view since this is a case to case basis and it’s very hard to define normal on this kind of objective inquiry. I’m like this when I’m newbie but I’m still doing this if I newly bought a token that I know it will give me a high profit in the future. The only time I stop frequently checking is when the price is sideways for a long time or in bear market since seeing losses is very hurtful in the eyes.

That habits will just go away naturally if you stop noticing it most of the time. You will feel less excited later on once the price slow down. No need to force yourself change what is normal for newbie.

If as an investor you constantly stir at your wallet the urge to sell to cash will be there and if the price keeps going down panic and emotions will come in. Find a way to avoid your wallet that is my candid advice. Bitcoin is a long term investment which is simply buy and hodl.

Mate i was also a victim of this i think its a normal sickness to everyone here because whenever you buy some bitcoin and it happens that you don't buy it at a good position whenever the market seems to dip you kept wondering and thinking either to sell or hold since you just invested such amount and never wanted to lost any cent from the investment or secondly, if you had some tokens pumping in your wallet as well as showing you the real value (usd $ equivalent) in your wallet at this point you might be tempted to either sell or just be watching your wallets in every single 1 hrs. I was delivered from this same madness when i became matured in the system and now i can stay without even checking my wallet or cmc for the whole 2 to 5 days most at times i gat know about market drop through some post over here.

Just like you, I am addicted to checking my portfolio every day and looking at the charts and progression of it which made me panic on a couple of times. That's what led to me quitting crypto for a while and doing something else. It's not healthy to worry about the markets all day knowing that nothing you can do will change them. I'm glad I got away from it for a little bit because now, I feel like this is exactly what crypto was built for, to give people control over their own finances, opening up an entire market that has yet to be discovered. Everything will turn out fine!

This is actually my first post though; been through the rules and I came across this topic so I decided to say something..

Bitcoin isn't some kind of fixed deposit; it could appreciate or depreciate as the case might be. It's advisable not to hope that your cash remains the same when HODLing Bitcoin,( it may, it may not). You're not converting your cash into cryptocurrencies just to save up, are you?? I thought you knew that you could own a coin permanently?? and that would solve that common problem when you assume it to be a stock in value. I just hope you know this pretty soon.
Isn't this the same thing I stressed in the first paragraph?
You're not an investor, you've only been decoyed maybe by some huge profits that's made over a period of time, and you haven't thought about the losses during every dip too.
You're not HODLing Bitcoin, you're only Saving up your bucks in there for some reasons you know
You can check your wallet every millisecond if you wish, but it doesn't show that you've trusted the process, not yet.

There is no such 'rule' as that, it just depends on the individual and what they want to do, as a new investor it is somewhat normal to be hyperactive and check your wallet balance more times than is necessary, it would definitely hurt your heart quite a lot if you keep doing that, especially because Bitcoin's price doesn't do too well in the short term, so you'll be disappointed quite a lot of times when the price is down or if it's a correction phase (which technically lasts longer).

Having said that, since you are a long term investor you'd do yourself a whole world of good if you basically just go about your business without thinking too much about what's happening to your wallet balance with every movement in Bitcoin's price. Also remember the rule of thumb of investing only what you can afford to lose, that way it would reduce your hyperactiveness towards your Bitcoin balance.

This is normal to check on your  money is always on your mind. You will come over it as time goes on. We all did same not until we were matured enough to know that no matter the hike in price or turn down in price your bitcoin is save and you are ready to face whatever comes out from it. Long term investment is the best,in this way its just like a fixed deposit where you know that it is in some period of time that you can access your funds. Get yourself engaged and you will find out that you will be too busy to remember that you had a wallet.

You have taken a bold step by choosing Bitcoin investment over banks. Bitcoin will give you profit while in the bank, your money will remain the same regardless of the economic situation, and you know how fiat loses value sometimes, I would like you to be consistent on your monthly Bitcoin investment as you stated, and I am confident you will benefit from it letter.

You have to take your eyes off your wallet entirely. Since you want to hold the Bitcoin, you should have nothing to worry about. You can check the wallet once in a while, but checking it multiple times daily will discourage you, and it is not something you can make a lot of money from overnight.

This is one thing that often happens especially to most novice investors. This happens because there are feelings of worry, doubt, curiosity, and also emotional feelings that become one and cannot be controlled properly. Especially if someone wants to be a long-term investor, then the concept that should be done is: Buy - Store in a personal wallet safely - Store privacy data safely - then forget it until a predetermined period of time. Even if there are other additions, namely buying Bitcoin again and transferring it to a personal wallet.

It may not sound cheap, but it takes practice. Why? Because, if we want to be long-term investors but we keep checking our portfolio, then this will more easily affect our feelings and thoughts, especially when suddenly the price drops very low, then this will trigger an extraordinary panic. Here, we need to first understand the concept that we have to live by as long-term investors and also have a firm heart in investing.

It's not really that normal. It's normal only if you go in too big, that's what a smart guy once told me.

I'll say it again: when you feel nervous watching the price, feel the urge to check charts a few times a day and you're not a pro trader it means you've invested too much!

My advice to all of you who do this is to either decrease your positions or ask yourselves what it is that you're looking for in the charts. What will happen if you see a big red candle and the price is 15000? Will you sell everything in panic? If not and you're ready to wait it out, stop watching the price because it's a waste of time.

I understand how you feel, after all, it's happened to everyone. However, perhaps you should take steps to lessen your concern. Withdrawing money from the bank and investing in bitcoin is a wise move on your part. You should also be aware that trading carries its own risks. Avoid futures trading and steer clear of altcoins in favor of bitcoin. and focus on investing in bitcoin. when the time is right you don't regret making this decision today.

That feeling where you're afraid if the market goes down and vice-versa to the point that you need to be updated on its price movement so you can make a decision.

I knew that feeling because that's what I did back when I'm starting in cryptocurrency. You are doing it 10x per day? I'm doing it at around twice per hour. I'm not a trader at that time but I also have this feeling that I need to see the price of market, but I don't have any reasons at all as to why I need to check it.

Experience and discipline. If you're just starting in the cryptocurrency, you will learn gradually that it isn't good to keep checking the price of market. It took me a while until I realized that I'm not that guy who's checking the prices of my portfolio that often. You will reach to a point where you will just make an adjustment yourself. Spending time doing other things will help and being discipline enough to not check your wallet will help you.

As of this moment, I only check my portfolio once every 2 days because there checking it once every 2 days and 10x per day will not make any changes to my holdings (at least for me).

The way I see it OP has a couple choices here because the situation isn't very healthy.
He either can abandon or decrease his investment to feel more relaxed, or he can try to distance himself from the investment by going somewhere peaceful where there's no Internet.
If I felt that the investment is draining my vital forces and making me feel down every time there's a price decrease I'd get rid of it.

Not really. Such obsessions can have a huge toll on your personal life and mental state. This behavior is mostly anxiety-derived and may even show symptoms of OCD. I'm not implying that the OP is suffering from anything, but some of us, including myself, present compulsive behaviors or symptoms due to anxiety stemming from investments. I'm generally an anxious person myself and can relate to the OP's feelings, back when I was actively trading. I switched up to holding and accumulating Bitcoin and never suffered any anxiety again. That applies if you're patient enough to wait a few years.

OP needs to decide if he's willing to wait until the bull market and come to terms with the risks of doing so. Till then, it's best to make your wallet less accessible and focus on what you plan for the future. Purchasing below $20,000 is quite safe if you're long-term holding.

Most of all, I must commend your courage and initiative to have dropped your bank package and look towards some bitcoin investment for an alternative to saving your excesses and it could prove to be a good choice later.

Now, checking your wallet regularly doesn't seem like a bad idea to me. Infact, I might say you could do that but, not so frequent as you are doing at the moment. 10x a day, tthat'sa lot. Perhaps you might limit it to only when you buy some more coins. Possibly to just now how many coins you've got so far, how much one you need to add to your portfolio and if your coin is actually still there and secured.

The charts for price is the other place you shouldn't check. After all, your just buying no matter what and so, looking at the charts for price appreciation or values would only create an adrenalin rush in you and that's something you just might not want. It builds an emotional within you that might lead you to not being rational in decision making and most of your decisions would be moved out of fear.

Let the charts be, view your wallet only after buying some more and be ready to hodl for long.

I can recall doing that back then as a habit. The odd thing is that I can't decide whether to sell if my bitcoin price has increased by x3 or not, so I keep checking to see how much my bitcoin is worth for just cause.

When we are looking for anything that would bring us immediate financial gain, we are all guilty of adopting this mindset. It is kind of funny.

There is no set limit on how many times one should cease checking his wallet. Get busy or occupy your attention with something you enjoy doing to stop this kind of behavior. Exercise, socializing with friends, listening to music, etc. are some examples.